


An Atom Family

by Maple_and_Birds



Category: The Outer Worlds (Video Game)
Genre: Crew as Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I messed up the negotiating between Zora and Sanjar so we have this garbage fire now, Panic Attacks, Touch-Starved, my boy has been through a rough patch, post-Monarch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-12
Updated: 2019-11-12
Packaged: 2021-01-29 01:53:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21402229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maple_and_Birds/pseuds/Maple_and_Birds
Summary: Captain Parsley McCrae loved the oddballs and outcasts he somehow managed to catch in his orbit. He didn't realize that they had all chosen to stay there, and that meant showing up for their captain when he needed them.
Relationships: The Captain & Maximillian DeSoto
Comments: 4
Kudos: 83





	An Atom Family

**Author's Note:**

> I love my ship full of bastards (and also Parvati). I changed the timeline around a bit, in my playthrough I kind of imagine the corporations sending all the people most suited to oppose their ideals (farmers, scientists, activists, and the like) into space early on in the colonization process with the expectation that they would be lost. Parsley is a bit older as a result but besides that nothing really changes. Enjoy!
> 
> Parsley was a farmer and environmentalist back on Earth, I imagine he's from somewhere around southern USA.

Violence did not come easily to Parsley. Physically, he was suited for it, with his sharp eyes and steady hands, but in his eyes, those were the trade tools of a scientist, a naturalist, not a murderer. Upon his abrupt shunting into the Halcyon system, Parsley learned to tolerate the necessity of a quick draw.

More than his gun, Parsley relied heavily on his silver tongue, steeping his words in his rich southern drawl until he got what he wanted. He could slip past Board officials and give crime lords the runaround just by throwing out a few words in passing. It came easily, and, for the most part, Parsley learned to arm himself with pretty words and a friendly demeanor rather than his hunting rifle. It worked. Unless it didn’t.

***

“Captain, I have detected a dangerously elevated heart rate and unusual amounts of perspiration. Would you like me to contact Ellie for an examination?” ADA’s voice was comfortable. It was familiar. He was home. He had sent the others back to the ship as soon as negotiations had entered the equation. He had been so sure. So stupid.

“Captain?” ADA’s voice repeated.

“No. No don’t call her, ADA, ‘m fine really. Just tired.” He rubbed a filthy hand over his eyes to stave off the strange prickling behind them and started to make his way towards his room.

“I am sorry, Captain. But I believe you are being dishonest with me.”

“Just a headache, ADA. Gonna get some rest.” Parsley slid the door shut behind him before quickly making his way over to the console. Max had been teaching him how to find his way around a computer, so it was no trouble to turn off ADA’s surveillance in his quarters. He had barely punched the execute command prompt before bile rose in his throat and he ended up face down in the bin beside his desk. The short breaths and clammy skin came soon after.

Oh, this is a panic attack. He thought idly to himself, somewhere outside the current reality of Parsley McCrae. He wasn’t quite sure that he experienced the hands pulling at his curls, or the shivers that wracked his body, or even the violent sobs that choked the breath from his lungs, but they definitely happened. Somewhere outside the reality of himself, he could feel the pain in his scalp and the too cold feeling under his skin and the burning tears that cut tracks down his grime-smeared face. It felt like his world was ending.

There was a solid knock at his door. And another. Three. Four. ADA couldn’t knock on doors. The sound coming from outside his own miserable limbo brought Parsley back into himself slightly.

“Captain, I’m coming in.” That was Max. That was Max not even pretending to care about courtesy or manners and he was already marching through the door and oh he looked too concerned. Stern face creased with care and worry but with that same sort of calm that drew Parsley to sit by the vicar on quiet nights to read.

“Max?” Is what Parsley tried to say, but, due to the soul trying to prison-break his body, the word came out notably garbled. Max was kneeling within arms reach, probably unsure if getting any closer would help. Parsley ached for someone, anyone, to just touch him, comfort him, just hold his fucking hand.

“ADA won’t admit it, but she was worried about you. Gave me notice that something was wrong. I’m glad she did.” He pulled an unusually pristine cloth from his pocket and offered it carefully, like he was some idiot reaching out to offer meat to a canid. Parsley took it without a word and instantly dirtied the light cloth with the blood and dirt caked onto his hands and face.

“Hope you got more of these, Max. Don’t think this is going to wash out real easy.” Parsley sniffled loudly.

“I’m a man of the cloth. I have a few to spare.” The line was delivered without ceremony, but Parsley caught the intent and allowed a sad, croaky laugh to escape. Max sat quietly, expectantly, until Parsley could manage a few more words.

“Negotiations didn’t go so smooth. Don’t know for certain if the blood or tears tipped you off, but peace talks ended in a massacre. Backed Zora and her crew after the talks fell apart. Wanted t’ get out but got stuck in between and- I just-” He cut himself off with a choked moan as the tears started once more. Max gently pulled him off the ground and lead him arm-in-arm to the bed where he sat them both down and stayed pressed shoulder to shoulder in support. Parsley felt like he was sitting in a sunspot on the farmhouse floor, warm and content. He let out a jittery sigh.

“We should never have left you there.”

“‘m real glad you did, Max. I couldn’t take it if one of you died in that shitshow. Everyone is alright, yeah?” Parsley was struck by a sudden irrational fear. ADA had given no usual update of the crews’ activities, jumping straight into her concern instead. It was too easy to let his mind run away with the gruesome possibilities.

“Everyone made it back no worse for wear, I promise. Would you like to see them?”

“They shouldn’t have to see me like this. I’m their captain.”

“I think they may currently be more worried about Parsley the human and less about your prestige as captain.”

“…were you the only one that ADA told?”

“By name I was the only one referred to, yes.”

“Max.”

“I did, however, happen to be in the kitchen at the time.” He doesn’t even have the decency to look guilty. “I managed to convince them to wait on the stairs instead of barging in if that’s any consolation to you.”

“You’re a bastard and I hate you.” Parsley muttered before pulling his knees to his chest and dropping his head to Max’s shoulder, smothering his dirty face in the soft fabric there.

“I always appreciate when my hard work goes noticed, captain.”

“Can you bring everyone else in? Only if they want to.”

“You’re going to have to let go of my shirt first, Parsley.” Max sounded more amused than anything, so Parsley felt no need to rush.

“Give me a minute.” Without moving from his spot pressed up against the vicar, Parsley began to relax his muscles and calm his mind as best he could. He planted his boots on the floor, brushing the dried mud off his mattress, and slowly peeled away into an upright position. He felt a little cold now, but grounded.

“I’ll return shortly.” Max left without preamble. Parsley tried to listen for any discussion as the door closed behind him, but the hum of the engines and general cosmic ambience drew his attention away. While alone, Parsley took a moment to throw his boots and outer clothes into the soiled bin, no intention of ever wearing them again. A brief scrub at his face with some bottled water took away some of the grime and dried tears. If not wholly better, he at least felt human again.

When the door opened again, the entire crew did not come barreling through at once like Parsley had expected. Parvati and Felix walked carefully in, like they were trying to avoid rushing into a building full of landmines with pits of boiling acid hidden beneath the floorboards. Parsley smiled wanly as they came up the stairs and noticed him sitting on the bed.

“Hope we’re not intruding, cap’n. ADA got us all worried for you, and please don’t get mad at her I know she’s difficult, but she does care, and we just needed to be sure you were doing okay. Vicar Max said-” Parvati started out before Felix cut her off. Parsley noticed that his fingers were fidgeting subtly with the hem of his shirt: a sign that he was more unsettled than normal. A patch of rusty red colour had long faded to a soft salmon pink since he had joined up with the crew. It was hard to deny that life on The Unreliable was more stressful than work on The Groundbreaker.

“We’re sorry we left you behind, boss. We ought to stick together, I felt wrong doing it but everything seemed like it was going well but it didn’t and you’re hurt and it’s on us.” He hung his head (though it seemed more to Parsley a baring of a neck expecting to be severed from the head). Parsley watched them both with a fond smile and the prickling once more behind his eyes. With a sniffle he gestured to the space beside him and the relief on both Felix and Parvati’s faces felt like a balm to his nerves.

By the time the door opened once more to admit Ellie this time, she walked in to the three of them tangled together, comfortably close and warm and there. Parsley was lying on his side facing the room with Felix plastered to his back and an arm thrown over Parsley’s waist. Parvati had taken a spare blanket and was curled up beneath the tangle of the other two’s legs, hands resting on Parsley’s leg and thumb rubbing his shin soothingly. Ellie couldn’t hold back a huff that the other three might classify as fond (it was definitely derisive if you asked her though).

“Are you two going to release the captain for a quick exam?” She tried to bring any amount of authority into her voice as she pushed back all of the concern and unexpected yearning to join the others on the cramped bed. She was a professional and her captain needed help.

“No!” Felix yelled. It was muffled between the captain’s shoulder blades, but it was a yell nonetheless. Parsley let out a not-quite-laugh, a short exhale, in response. His eyes were warm and teary when he looked up at Ellie and, with a quick gesture of his head, offered her an in. She could hardly refuse the captain’s instruction. It only took her a minute to give in, this crew was making her soft dammit.

“Alright, move over Parvati.” Kicking off her boots, Ellie climbed gracelessly into the small space left in the bend of Felix’s knees. She leaned her back against Parvati’s side and threw her legs over the two men, laughing as Felix began cursing the toes poking his ribs.

***

Parsley had never really been what could be considered a touchy-feely person. On Earth, before the Hope, he had friends and family that lived on the farm commune with him. They hugged and were close and never had any qualms about being close. But they never actively sought each other out. After the Hope, waking up in the escape pod and being jettisoned down to Terra 2, crawling out onto unfamiliar soil and struggling to survive every step of the way, physical intimacy was the last thing on his mind.

It was hard to build relationships with people who were generations younger than you. Parsley was 27 in body, but well over 200 in actuality. All his friends and family were either dead back on Earth, or frozen in the abandoned bowels of The Hope. How do you just reach out to people you never should have met in the first place? He loved his crew completely and unconditionally, picking up the band of outcasts and social pariahs as he travelled, but he tried to keep a certain distance from them. He felt closer to ADA on most days then the actual humans on his crew.

Space got lonely when you were a man out of time.

***

Parsley felt like he was floating in the best kind of way. Warm and light and happier than he could remember being in ages; tethered to his ship only by the tangle of limbs pinning him down. By the time Max came back into the room, followed by Nyoka and SAM, Parsley was about two strokes of Parvati’s thumb from passing out. Felix was snoring softly into his back, and Ellie had wrangled a wrist into her grasp under the pretense of checking his heart rate (this stopped being a valid excuse after the first two minutes, but no one dared bring it up). Parsley felt loved in a way that he hadn’t realized he was missing so acutely. He watched with sleep-leaden eyes as Max gave him a knowing smile and sat on the floor by the head of the bed.

“Glad to see you safe, captain.” Nyoka grinned merrily and ran a deceptively gentle hand through his hair before throwing herself back-down on the floor, bent in a way that had her knees hooked over the side of the bed and her feet tucked under Parvati’s legs. Parsley blew a wayward curl out of his face as he watched SAM clunk carefully across the room to the bin he had deposited his bloodied clothes in (as well as his lunch) before aiming at the bin carefully and disintegrating it on the spot. Everyone tenses slightly at the sight of the bubbling mess on the floor. There’s no way Parsley can get those clothes back now.

“SAM!” Max snapped immediately. Parsley can’t help but let out a laugh, loud and clear for the first time since he returned to the ship, and gently nudged Max’s head in response.

“Good work, SAM!” Parsley gets out between uncharacteristic giggles. The energy in the room relaxes.

“SAM units exist to serve you, loyal customer!” SAM collects the remains of the bin before making his way out of the room with uncharacteristic tact. After a moment, Parvati continues gently rubbing his shin, Felix burrows in closer, Ellie slumps just a little lower, Nyoka begins to hum a foreign tune as her eyes close, and through it all Max watches him with gentle eyes and a comforting smile. Parsley doesn’t fight sleep when it comes for him, gentle and sure.


End file.
